'I started losing my hair at 13 - I didn't want to get out of bed'

A woman who began experiencing hair loss at the age of 13 has spoken about the "shame" she felt after being diagnosed with alopecia. Nicole Thomas, 27, who lives in Cardiff but is originally from Anglesey , said that she would hide in her bedroom and would rarely discuss the condition with her loved ones after she began losing her hair as a teenager. After experiencing both hair growth and loss over the space of a decade, Nicole began losing her hair at a greater and faster rate in late 2022.

But rather than hiding from her previous fears of living with alopecia, Nicole has decided to speak openly about the condition through her TikTok platform. Some of her video clips, titled 'The Balding Diaries' , have garnered hundreds of responses and reactions - one of which has been viewed over 228,000 times. According to Nicole, the experience has taught her the importance of speaking up, not just for herself but those who might be going through the same thing.

READ MORE: The 'beacon of light' that helped family through their 'darkest days' LATEST: 'I was in pain for months and doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong' Speaking to WalesOnline, Nicole explained that she had begun experiencing hair loss at the age of 13. She recalled: "I went to a hairdresser's appointment. At the time, I had all my hair in a bob, so it was quite short.

My hairdresser told me 'I can’t cut your hair any shorter because there’s a tiny bald patch at the back of your head'. "It was tiny, the size of a.